About EditStock
In 2014, Avid Technologies asked me, Misha Tenenbaum (then an editor, now the CEO of EditStock and EditMentor) to present a new feature of Media Composer at the Supermeet, a conference in Las Vegas hosted at NAB by a popular user group called The Los Angeles Creative Pro User Group. So I went out and shot a short film to demo.
Then I went over budget. Faced with the potential of losing money on a short film I created to demo someone's product, I sold the footage to my editing school. They were excited to have it. In class we were always editing Gun Smoke, a black and white Western shot in the 1950s. It was at that point I realized every other school was using Gun Smoke, too. From New York to California there were basically no other projects that allowed editing students to use the raw footage for practice and demo reel building. How could that be?
Cinametographers can start with a camera in hand, writers with a blank page, but editors? We need SOMETHING with which to learn.
Through selling my film I not only recouped my loss but turned the film profitable many times over. How many indie short films have you heard of becoming profitable? None. Nada. Nothing. It never happens. Except that it did... to me. Since then I'm proud to say that I've made dozens of films created by indie filmmakers - the exact people we are teaching with the material - profitable since they earn a commission from each sale of their project.
It's an amazing thing really. EditStock has created a virtuous loop that helps everyone in the indie filmmaking community. That is a legacy I'm proud of.
About Our Philosophy on Learning
EditStock is founded on the principle that creative editing skill can be improved when practice and ambition are combined with access to professional resources like footage and feedback.
We’re committed to providing inspiring, high production value film footage to schools around the world in order to help students learn the art of video editing. Already, colleges like The American Film Institute, Full Sail, and Ravensbourne (UK) are using footage from EditStock in their classrooms. EditStock footage is used in the Avid Learning Partner Program, and the Da Vinci Resolve training series, serving hundreds of schools world wide.
We believe that any individual, regardless of their access to film school, should be able to get practice materials that are as ambitious as their own career dreams. But, practice materials alone do not replace a solid mentor, so EditStock also offers unlimited creative feedback for individuals who are learning to edit outside of a traditional classroom. Our detailed, personalized feedback always comes straight from professional editors.
Each project in EditStock’s library is hand picked to ensure that it teaches valuable lessons and meets our high production value standards. Our library includes official selections from prestigious festivals like The LA Short Film Fest, LA Indie Fest, The Tribeca Film Festival, and even a finalists from Ron Howard’s Long Live Imagination competition. We choose our footage carefully because we know that in order to be inspired to cut, an editor must sit in front of inspiring material. We’re sure that our customers will rise to the professional expectations that great footage demands from them.
Professional editors know that there is no book they can read, tutorial they can watch, or seminar they can attend that will instantly make them great. Editors hone their creative skill through thousand of hours of cutting, getting feedback, and cutting again. We want everyone to make their first cuts with EditStock.